Periodic Broadcast and Location of Evolving Media Content with Application to Seminar and Stroke Media

1. A method comprising the steps of: storing a plurality of data elements in a data structure; defining at least one general mask and a data structure description that describes the data elements in the data structure, wherein the data structure comprises one or more of a serial stream, an ordered set comprised of subsets, and a hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has one or more of a node position, a bit position and a subset position; defining, by using the data structure description, one or more links, each of the links locating one or more data elements in the data structure and, by using the general mask, a particular mask comprising one or more links, each of the links providing access to a data element; and retrieving, by using one of the links, a corresponding one of the data elements.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the data structure comprises the hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has the node position; the step of defining a data structure description further comprises the step of defining a general graph mask; and the step of defining one or more links further comprises the step of defining, using the general graph mask, a particular graph mask comprising one or more subgraph links, each of the subgraph links providing access to a data element at its node position.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the data structure comprises the serial stream, wherein each data element has a data bit position within the serial stream; the step of defining a data structure description further comprises the step of defining a general space mask; and the step of defining one or more links further comprises the step of defining, using the general space mask, a particular space mask comprising one or more subinterval links, each of the subinterval links providing access to a data element at its bit position.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein: the data structure comprises the ordered set comprised of subsets, wherein each data element belongs to a subset; the step of defining a data structure description further comprises the step of defining a general data set mask; and the step of defining one or more links further comprises the step of defining a particular data set mask comprising one or more subset links, each of the subset links providing access to a data element in its subset.

5. A system comprising: a memory that stores computer-readable code; and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to implement the computer-readable code, the computer-readable code configured to: store a plurality of data elements in a data structure; define at least one general mask and a data structure description that describes the data elements in the data structure, wherein the data structure comprises one or more of a serial stream, an ordered set comprised of subsets, and a hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has one or more of a node position, a bit position and a subset position; define, by using the data structure description, one or more links, each of the links locating one or more data elements in the data structure and, by using the general mask, a particular mask comprising one or more links, each of the links providing access to a data element; and retrieve, by using one of the links, a corresponding one of the data elements.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein: the data structure comprises the hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has the node position; the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining a data structure description, to define a general graph mask; and the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining one or more links, to define, using the general graph mask, a particular graph mask comprising one or more subgraph links, each of the subgraph links providing access to a data element at its node position.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein: the data structure comprises the serial stream, wherein each data element has a data bit position within the serial stream; the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining a data structure description, to define a general space mask; and the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining one or more links, to define, using the general space mask, a particular space mask comprising one or more subinterval links, each of the subinterval links providing access to a data element at its bit position.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein: the data structure comprises the ordered set comprised of subsets, wherein each data element belongs to a subset; the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining a data structure description, to define a general data set mask; and the computer-readable code is further configured, when defining one or more links, to define a particular data set mask comprising one or more subset links, each of the subset links providing access to a data element in its subset.

9. An article of manufacture comprising: a tangible computer-readable recordable medium having computer-readable code means embodied thereon, the computer-readable program code means comprising: a step to store a plurality of data elements in a data structure; a step to define at least one general mask and a data structure description that describes the data elements in the data structure, wherein the data structure comprises one or more of a serial stream, an ordered set comprised of subsets, and a hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has one or more of a node position, a bit position and a subset position; a step to define, by using the data structure description, one or more links, each of the links locating one or more data elements in the data structure and, by using the general mask, a particular mask comprising one or more links, each of the links providing access to a data element; and a step to retrieve, by using one of the links, a corresponding one of the data elements.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9 , wherein: the data structure comprises the hierarchical data structure comprised of subgraphs, wherein each data element has the node position; the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining a data structure description, a step to define a general graph mask; and the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining one or more links, a step to define, using the general graph mask, a particular graph mask comprising one or more subgraph links, each of the subgraph links providing access to a data element at its node position.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 9 , wherein: the data structure comprises the serial stream, wherein each data element has a data bit position within the serial stream; the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining a data structure description, a step to define a general space mask; and the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining one or more links, a step to define, using the general space mask, a particular space mask comprising one or more subinterval links, each of the subinterval links providing access to a data element at its bit position.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 9 , wherein: the data structure comprises the ordered set comprised of subsets, wherein each data element belongs to a subset; the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining a data structure description, a step to define a general data set mask; and the computer-readable program code means further comprises, when defining one or more links, a step to define a particular data set mask comprising one or more subset links, each of the subset links providing access to a data element in its subset.